The Toronto Maple Leafs have won just two playoff rounds in 21 years; needless to say, Auston Matthews and co. have never made it past the second round. On Wednesday night, the Leafs had the opportunity to go up 2-0 against the Florida Panthers, and it was a chance they wouldn’t let slip away.

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Thanks to a 4-3 win over the Cats, Toronto now has a serious option in the series, but to get there, they needed big input from two former Montreal Canadiens: Max Pacioretty and Max Domi.

Former Habs captain Pacioretty put the Leafs on the board on the power play after falling behind 1-0 on an Alexander Barkov goal midway through the first frame. The man advantage marker was scored with less than two minutes left in the period and came with assists from Morgan Rielly and Domi.

The Panthers regained the lead 15 seconds into the second frame, but Pacioretty notched the primary assist on William Nylander's game-tying goal a little over four minutes later. Domi then gave Toronto a one-goal lead less than three minutes before the end of the period.

Tie Domi - 98 career Playoff games, 7 goals, 19 points (238 PIM)

Max Domi - 58 career Playoff games, 9 goals, 30 points (76 PIM)#LeafsForeverpic.twitter.com/QctLiDodMp

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 8, 2025

The Leafs again allowed the Panthers to come back when Anton Lundell scored five minutes into the final frame, but Mitch Marner called the game with a big goal just 17 seconds later.

Pacioretty and Domi were named the first two stars of the game with a pair of points each, while Marner grabbed the third. Domi’s stay in Montreal was short-lived. After being acquired from the now-defunct Arizona Coyotes in return for Alex Galchenyuk, the second-generation NHLer had a great first season in town, picking up 70 points. His second year with the Habs didn’t go as planned, however, and his production dipped to 44 points in 71 games.

By the time the “bubble playoffs” turned up, he had lost coach Claude Julien’s confidence and found himself skating on the fourth line, a sign of things to come. In return for Josh Anderson, he was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the next off-season.

Since then, Tie Domi’s son has played for five teams but seems to have found a home in Toronto. This is his second season with the Leafs, and he is delivering for them in the playoffs, just like he did last year when they were dispatched in seven games by the Boston Bruins. His performance led the Toronto front office to sign him to a four-year deal with a $3,375,000 cap hit.

It's a shame it didn’t work out for Domi in Montreal since he can play with a bit of sandpaper when needed, but ultimately, so can Anderson, who has been a more than suitable replacement.

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Mike Sullivan, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, was officially introduced as the 38^th head coach in Rangers history on Thursday morning.

“It’s an incredible honor to be the head coach of such a storied franchise, an Original Six team, a team that has such deep history and such a passionate fan base,” Sullivan said. “It’s hard not to get excited about being the head coach of an organization like this.”

“Having been on an opposing team’s bench and playing against the Rangers inside the division for all these years, I’ve grown a ton of respect for the players that are in that room and the talent that they have,” the 57-year-old added. “The opportunity to work with a group like that certainly excites me.”

As the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Sullivan hoisted back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, leading Pittsburgh to the playoffs in each of his first seven seasons at the helm.

After missing the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, though, Sullivan and the Penguins parted ways.

That’s where Rangers GM Chris Drury pounced on the opportunity to bring Sullivan to New York.

“I truly believe Mike is a premier coach in the National Hockey League. His resume, both in the NHL and in international play, speaks for itself,” Drury said. “The second Mike was available, we quickly and aggressively pursued him, and we’re certainly thrilled that that pursuit led us to this moment today. There’s a lot of work to be done, and I’m very excited to be partnered with Mike as we collectively try to achieve our goals here in New York.”

Sullivan earned his first NHL head coaching job in 2003 with Boston, and he’d coach the Bruins for two seasons. He then spent some time as an assistant coach for a handful of NHL teams, including the Rangers, with whom he worked as an assistant with John Tortorella until landing the Penguins’ top job.

And while he has experience coaching and playing in Madison Square Garden, standing behind the bench as the Rangers head coach is something he certainly doesn’t take for granted.

“I had the privilege of coaching here as an assistant coach, as you guys know, 15 years ago, and I’ve had the privilege of coaching here as an opposing team here at Madison Square Garden,” Sullivan said. “We played these guys in the playoffs a few years ago. I don’t know that there’s a more electric building in the league than Madison Square Garden. It really is a privilege to play in that building, regardless of which bench you’re on. But I can only anticipate what it would be like to be behind the Rangers bench as the head coach. It’s an incredible honor. This is one of the more passionate fanbases in the league, and I look forward to that moment.”

Former Carolina Hurricanes forward Mikko Rantanen was the main reason why the Dallas Stars defeated the Colorado Avalanche in the first round. With the Stars down 2-0 in Game 7, Rantanen scored a hat trick and recorded an assist in the third period to secure them a 4-2 win over the Avalanche.

With his four-point Game 7, Rantanen recorded five goals and 11 points in his final three games against the Avalanche in the first round. Now, he is only continuing to stay red-hot in the Stars' second-round series against the Winnipeg Jets.

In Game 1 against the Jets, Rantanen once again led the Stars to a victory. The former Hurricanes winger scored three goals in the second period, and the Stars won the contest by a 3-2 final score. With this, Rantanen now has recorded hat tricks in back-to-back games and has eight goals and 14 points in his last four contests.

Rantanen is a big-time star when playing at his best, and it is exactly why the Hurricanes acquired him back in January. However, they were forced to trade him at the deadline to the Stars, as the 2015 tenth-overall pick made it clear that he was not open to signing a contract extension with the Canes. However, after being acquired by the Stars, he signed an eight-year, $96 million contract extension with Dallas.

In 13 games with the Hurricanes before being traded to the Stars, Rantanen had two goals, six points, and a minus-3 rating. Overall, he had a tough time adjusting to the Hurricanes' system, but he certainly has found a fit with the Stars.

Recent Hurricanes News 

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Mikko Rantanen picked up right where he left off after the first round when the Dallas Stars took on the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.

Dallas prevailed in a 3-2 win at the Canada Life Centre on Wednesday to take a 1-0 second-round lead over Winnipeg.

Rantanen put up a natural hat trick in the contest. This was Rantanen’s second straight playoff hat trick after the team’s Game 7 win against the Colorado Avalanche.

This was a historic game for Rantanen. Not only did he record back-to-back hat tricks in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but both hat tricks happened within one period. He is the first player in NHL history to record multiple three-goal periods in the same post-season, let alone in consecutive games.

Rantanen also became the third player in history to record back-to-back hat tricks in the playoffs. The other two were Jari Kurri for the Edmonton Oilers in 1985 and Doug Bentley for the Chicago Blackhawks in 1944.

In his last four playoff games, Rantanen scored eight goals and six assists, and he now leads the NHL with 15 points. The 28-year-old has contributed to each of his team’s last 12 goals. He’s also been involved in 62.5 percent of Dallas’ 24 goals in these playoffs.

While the spotlight was on Rantanen after his hat trick and the Stars’ first win of the series, left winger Jason Robertson returned to the lineup for the first time since their last regular-season game. He played 13:44 of ice time and recorded one shot on goal in his return from injury.

Jets center Mark Scheifele also returned to the lineup. 

This was Scheifele’s first game back since leaving during Game 5 against the St. Louis Blues in the first round with an undisclosed injury.

The 32-year-old had an immediate impact for Winnipeg, scoring late in the second period to make it a one-goal game. He took seven shots and played 22:36 of ice time. 

Winnipeg made a strong push late in the contest during the 6-on-5 scenario and was hoping for another episode of Manitoba Magic, much like in Game 7 against the Blues when they tied the game with 1.6 seconds left to force overtime and eventually win the series.

Despite the team’s late scramble to equalize, Jets coach Scott Arniel was not impressed with his team’s overall performance.

“There was a lot of sloppiness to that game,” Arniel told reporters. "That did not feel like a playoff game in Game 1 in Round 2. That felt like Game 45 in the middle of December.”

Arniel added that he didn’t like his team’s execution, specifically after winning draws and their passing. He highlighted there was more time and space on the ice than when they faced St. Louis, but his players didn’t take advantage of that.

Winnipeg will host Game 2 on Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET, before the series shifts to Dallas for Games 3 and 4.

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One year ago today, the Vancouver Canucks were in a much different spot from where they are now. While they are nearly a month into the off-season this year, last year, they had just completed one of the most impressive postseason comebacks in franchise history. May 8, 2025, marks one year since the Canucks stole Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers after climbing back from a 4–1 deficit. 

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The game started poorly for the Canucks, who found themselves down 2–0 early on thanks to first-period goals from Zach Hyman and Mattias Ekholm. While Dakota Joshua cut the Edmonton lead by one less than a minute into the second period, another tally by Hyman and one from Cody Ceci gave the Oilers a 4–1 lead with a little less than half of the game over. 

From a Canucks standpoint, things looked bleak. However, something about the energy in the building made it feel like Vancouver wasn’t quite down and out. When Elias Lindholm scored to shorten Edmonton’s lead to 4–2, the team could have easily rolled over and called it a night. However, halfway through the third period, J.T. Miller found the back of the net, bringing the deficit to 4–3. 

With every goal that Vancouver scored, the crowd grew louder and the towels waved faster. By the time Nikita Zadorov’s blast from the blueline flew past Stuart Skinner, Rogers Arena was so loud that you could barely hear yourself think. All of a sudden, Edmonton’s 4–1 lead had been whittled down to a 4–4 tie. 

Fans didn’t have to wait long for Vancouver to seize the lead for the first time in the series. Less than a minute after Zadorov’s tying goal, Conor Garland advanced on the Oilers’ net and faked a shot before sliding the puck into the net. Just like that, the Canucks were the team in control of the series. 

Even though the series didn’t end the way the team or the fans would have wanted it to, the Canucks should still be proud of the effort they exhibited this time last year. Who knows — maybe they’ll be in the same place they were in 2024 come 2026. 

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